


faceless.

by teenagefgt



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Eventual Romance, Government Experimentation, M/M, Molestation, Original Character(s), Paranormal, Percico - Freeform, Rape, Supernatural Elements, Swearing, i dont know, lol, lots of swearing, sorry - Freeform, this will be really messed up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-04
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-02-03 08:35:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 16
Words: 8,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1738136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teenagefgt/pseuds/teenagefgt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"But this is a fucked up world, with fucked up people, and fucked up situations. And what happens when you're a fucked up person put in a fucked up situation with other fucked up people?"</p><p>Nico di Angelo grew up being scared of shadows, when all they wanted was to become friends with him. Percy Jackson is the only person to notice his struggle's but he doesn't quite know what to do about it. Really, though, it makes for an interesting love story.</p><p>(Yes, this was an old story of mine that was originally on wattpad but I decided to rewrite it a bit and post it here instead. I've deleted it off wattpad. I don't like wattpad any more.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. prologue.

The point of Nico's situation is that he’s stuck.

“Nico?” it was a whisper.

Nico wanted to shake his head, cry out, scream, thrash against his bindings. That voice grabbed him by the bones and yanked at his tendons and made his eyes water behind his eyelids. Fuck, he missed that voice.

“Don't, Nico.” still a whisper, a small intimate whisper. Nico's muscles began to relax. That voice always said the right thing to him, always knew him to well.

He wanted to reach towards the whispering source and stroke it’s cheek. He knows the voice better than anything. He could always put that voice to the face. He wants that man near him, with him. He wants that man to save him, _oh god, please save him._

“Oh, Nico.” quiet, quiet.

Nico felt the brush of a finger against his cheek like it was a cool breeze. He wants this man to grab his face and kiss him, to be his prince charming like in all those fairy tales Nico read as a kid. That's how this was supposed to go, right? Then, Nico would wake up and they would run away and live happy. However, that won't happen and Nico hates that. He hates it. He hates him.

“I’m sorry, sir, you really shouldn’t be here for this long, the subject is getting restless.”

There was a tap on the brain monitor. Nico could imagine it going haywire right now.

That wasn’t the whispering voice. That was a familiar voice, but Nico didn’t like it. It was cold and harsh, like the metal wrapped around his wrists. It pierced his skin like thousands of needles and tore at his brain. He hates that voice. He’s never seen the face to match that voice but he doesn’t imagine it to be pretty because the personality of the person isn’t pretty at all.

“Yes, sir.” he was still whispering and Nico was tempted to ask why he was still whispering, but why now? Of all times? He won’t. That man will be back.

There were a few footsteps and a creak and the door was closing. But someone was still in the room, just at the end of the bed. Nico could feel his presence like it was poison.

“Nico, you aren’t doing any better.” this voice didn’t whisper.

Nico would like him to whisper. His head hurts. He doesn’t want loud things around him right now.

“I don’t know why I’m talking to you, you’ll never answer.” still not whispering.

Nico wanted to thrash against his bindings, scream and cry. He hated this man with a burning passion and he wanted to inflict nothing but pain upon him. He wanted to burn the heart out of this poisonous man.

He stayed still. He stayed quiet.

“Or will this be the day that you wake up?” loud, loud.

Nico’s had to hear this mans voice daily for years. He’s been under his supervision for years. He’s been put through tests, and scans and a lot of pain because of this man. He’s been called a patient, a subject, an experiment, and (his most favourite) number 14.

They think he’s a number.

But he’s the most valuable number.

This man has told him that there’s never been another person that can do what he can do. They can’t get rid of him. They can’t risk his health. They can’t kill him. They need him, like they need oxygen.

Nico’s been here for 5 years.

Using all of his (non-existent) energy, Nico lifted both his arms and pulled as hard as he could against his bindings. He turned his head and pushed himself off the bed and pulled so hard they cut into his skin and drew blood.

Suddenly, there was an alarm sounding, and the man (the poison, really) was at the side of his bed, watching him. Nico could feel his gaze burning holes into his skin.

Nico’s bones were creaking and his blood was weak from slow circulation and his heart was pounding harder than ever before. His muscles were sore and his nerves were on fire.

That was the first time Nico di Angelo had moved in 4 years.

The man in his room was whispering now.


	2. chapter one.

Nico di Angelo was six years old when it started.

It was dark out, and he was sitting on the window sill in his room, his sister fast asleep in the bottom bunk of their beds. She was eight, Nico's sister, and looks like an older version of him. They get along, for the most part.

Bianca di Angelo kind of snores a bit when it gets around four am. Nico's picked up on this. He doesn't really sleep sometimes, and he doesn't know why. His mom doesn't know that he wastes away hours just sitting on his window sill, looking out at the forest.

He's a quiet person when it really comes down to it. He likes to play toys, and sometimes Mario Kart with Bianca but other than that, he's just.. Quiet. He doesn't like loud noises.

Bianca's snoring is loud and it bothered him. His head throbbed with every rumble of breath Bianca took. She should get her sinuses checked out.

Nico sighed when the clock reached around 4:30 and he wondered why he's the way he is. He's only six, afterall.

And that's when he turned and looked at Bianca and saw a shadow of a cat walking across the floor, but there was no cat around him. There was no cat in the room at all. They don't even own a cat, his father is allergic.

Looking at the stalking shadow carefully, Nico furrowed his eyebrows and watched as it got disfigured when it tried to climb onto Bianca's bed. There was a small patch of light streaming through the window Nico was sitting at because of the street lights, and it fell right across the bed in a small ray. The shadow in the shape of the cat was only visible in that small ray of light, and Nico could see it knead at the blanket and curl into a ball. All it looks like now is a ball of black.

Nico watched it for a moment, and his breathing shallowed, and for some reason, he felt completely worn out and tired.

He stuck his short legs in front of him, and jumped off the window sill, wobbling for a moment to regain his balance. He had no idea why his energy was so suddenly drained, but all he wanted to do was crawl onto his bed and never wake up. He felt as though that could be a very realistic scenario because of how tired he was.

As Nico grabbed hold of the ladder, and put a foot on the bottom step, he glanced at the cat again. The ball of black was still there, and it seemed to be moving slightly. Nico's eye sight was getting a bit unesy, like the world was tilting sideways on him, and he was slightly frightened.

He put his other foot onto the ladder and was about to crawl into bed when he heard a low, quiet mewl. It sounded like a cat trying to meow, but there was too much saliva stuck in it's throat and flooding it's mouth to actually meow.

Looking down at the ball of black again, he nearly fell off the ladder when he noticed it staring at him. It's eyes were giant round balls of glowing white and he felt as though they're boring into his soul.

Quickly scrambling up the ladder, Nico crawled into bed and fell asleep fast, the world spinning around him.

When Nico woke up in the morning, he was coated in a cold sweat and his sister had moved onto the top bunk with him. He shot up, a whimper escaping his throat, and instantly, an arm wrapped around his tiny chest and pulled him down, pressing him against Bianca's chest. His muscles relaxed at the show of affection, the reminder of safety.

"You okay, Nico?" Bianca's tiny voice reached his ears and and he shook his head, screwing his eyes shut tight. His night was restless, with nightmares riddling his unconsciousness.

"No." he whispers, and the glowing eyes are still burned behind his eyelids, and he's wondering, he's only six - Where's his mommy?

"Wanna go get breakfast?"

Nico nodded, sniffling and rubbing at his eyes, and Bianca slowly sat up. Sitting up after her, Nico stayed there for a moment and grabbed Bianca's hand when she pushed herself into a kneeling position.

He sniffed again and looked up at his older sister. His sister with her big, dark eyes and a thick wave of brown hair and soft olive skin. He frowned momentarily before puckering his lips for a kiss like he does with his mom. Bianca didn't hesitate to lean down and peck her younger brothers lips before wiggling off the bunks ladder. There was a lingering promise of, 'you'll be fine' in the air. Then, Bianca helped Nico down and grabbed his hand as they made their way to the kitchen.

"What time is it, Bianca?" Nico asked as they walked down the hallway and Bianca stiffled a yawn as she replied, "10 am"

"I smell pancakes."

Breathing in deeply, Bianca caught a whiff of the sweet syrup smell and grinned, "Mom's probably making some."

Surely enough, when Bianca and Nico made their way down the stairs and walked into the kitchen, their mom was at the stove making some chocolate pancakes. Their father was sitting on a stool at the counter, a cup of coffee being cradled by his hands and the morning paper laying in front of him.

And right there, Nico noticed as Bianca let go of his hand, was that same cat from last night. Walking right up to his mom. It mewled lowly and Maria di Angelo's actions froze for a moment. His mom stumbled over her words and his dad put the morning paper down.

"Did you hear that?" Bianca broke the silence.

Nico shook his head harshly and his dad stood up and walked over to him, getting down on one knee and looking at him quizzically for a moment. He definitely knew something - Nico's father always knew something. He was a big, intimidating business man with ghastly skin and thick black hair. He spoke fluent Italian and his knuckles always cracked, the veins in his arms rippling under his sleeves every time he moved. Nico was terrified of being yelled at by his father - he really didn't like to displease his father.

Then, his father picked him up and a smiled twitched at the corner of his lips. He put Nico on the stool beside him.

The 2D black cat walked around the corner of the counter and his glowing eyes were facing down so Nico couldn't see them, but that didn't stop him from trembling. He doesn't know what the cat is or where it came from or why it's following him, but it terrifies him to no ends.

It stopped, just beside his chair, and looked up. Nico glanced down reluctantly, caught a peek of the glowing eyes, and clenched his baby teeth together. The cat mewled again, low and wet, and everyone stopped what they were doing to look over at Nico. It came from below his chair, so of course they're looking in his general direction.

When everyone's eyes were on him, and he was so scared of this cat getting him in trouble, tears started welling up in his eyes.

"Oh my, Nico, what's wrong?" Maria asked gently, her hand faltering in it's task at making pancakes and her eyebrows were dragged down in concern.

Nico looked down again, and now the cat was gone. Completely gone.

He shook his head and sprawled his hands on the counter and smiled, albeit a little forced. The cats gone, hopefully for good. He doesn't want to get his hopes up, though.

"I just want pancakes!" he answered quietly. There's still a slight shake to his hands, but he's okay. That cat didn't hurt him, after all.

His dad hesitantly put his cup of coffee down and shared an odd look with his wife. They left it at that.

Maria handed him a plate of pancakes a few minutes later and Nico nearly forgot about that cat.


	3. chapter two.

It got worse when he was seven.  
  
He was sitting in his bunk bed with his older sister's arms around his tiny frame. There was still sweat running down the side of his face, and images burned into his mind.  
  
"Are you going to tell me about your dream, Nico?" Bianca whispered.  
  
Nico's lip quivered at the thought of the glowing eyes and dark appearance.  
  
"No."  
  
The light through the window cast a shadow across the bed. As Nico stared at it, it seemed to form a hand and stretch toward him. He shrunk away, into Bianca's embrace and didn't sleep again that night. Bianca's snores started again around 5 am.  
  
The hand kept crawling, but never got closer to him.  
  
He didn't sleep for days.

  
~~~  
  
So, maybe Nico doesn't like to be Nico anymore because he seems to get haunted by these weird creepy crawlies hiding just beyond the veil of his realm in the next and they push through the shadows and no one can see them but him. The problem is, Nico doesn't know he's the only one in existence who can see them and he doesn't know what they are yet. He just knows the sounds they make and the shapes they take.  
  
One day, his mom came home and told him that dad won't be around any more. Nico remembers Bianca holding him and him crying and crying and crying.   
  
He tasted salt as the tears slipped past his lips and into his mouth and he shouted at his mother:  
  
 _Where is he?! WHERE DID DAD GO?_  
  
Nico could feel a tug in his stomach, like someone was trying to take away his guts. He started to scream for his dad, he screamed for his mom to bring him back, for Bianca to let go and his sister asks mom when the funeral is.  
  
Nico remembered when his dad would occasionally dance into his room smelling of a bakery and carrying a plate of food when he wasn't feeling good. He remembered sitting on his dads lap, putting on his glasses and going cross eyed. He remembered his dad reading to him his favourite stories a couple times a week when he couldn't sleep.

  
Everyone was quiet and Nico was sobbing and he was giving up a bit. His throat felt like it was bleeding and his bones were aching.  
  
And that's when he heard it. The low demonic growls and the scratch like nails on a chalkboard, slow and high pitched. Shudders raked through his body and Bianca's grip tightened. The scratching increased and it sounded like there were multiple things clawing at the shadows of his world and Nico dropped to his knees, Bianca letting go because he wasn't kicking any more.  
  
There was a cool hand on his back and Bianca was rubbing circles to try to calm him down but he couldn't. There's a storm raging inside him and the screeching drowned out his senses. The shadows thickened and stretched toward him like he was their lifeline.   
  
Nico reached out to them, his bony fingers shaking. He was curious and weak and maybe they're actually helpful. His arm was trembling and he couldn't hear Bianca coherently. He could feel his moms gaze on him and his sisters presence was suddenly gone. He wanted to say something, ask his mom to make him chicken noodle soup, like dad did when he was sick but the shadows slipped around his fingers.  
  
They felt cold and slimy and he could feel his energy draining rapidly, his eyelids drooping and  _god, he was so tired._  
  
He tried to get a solid grip on the cold, dense darkness but it slid through his fingers and coiled up his arm and he could  _feel_ the scratching against his skin now, instead of just hearing it.  
  
That was when Nico passed out with a shuddering gasp.


	4. chapter three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **this chapter involves sexual abuse, so if its a trigger or youre uncomfortable, i highly apologize and I reccomend not reading this story from here on out, because i will be continuing with it and it wont get better.**
> 
> If you've ever been sexually abused/molested or raped, know that you are not alone. People love you, people will listen to you, theres help you can get. I know its hard, but if its happened to you and youre still here, i am so proud and you are so strong. Stay strong. You have a beautiful soul.

Nico's 2 months away from being nine.

Even if he wanted to, he wouldn't be able to forget about his birthday. It's whispered at him every day. ( _so close, so close_.)

An inky black substance ran down his hands as he washed them in the sink and it disturbed him greatly. It was slimy and colder than the deepest crevice of the Arctic. His head throbbed in time with his heart beat and his eyelids were heavy but he forced them to stay open. The water stung his skin from how hot it was but it wasn't as strong as the piercing cold that laced onto his bones and won't let go.  
  
A knock on the door had him jumping out of his skin.  
  
"yeah?" He replied to the knocking.

"Nico? You okay? You've been in there for a really long time." It was Bianca and Nico let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.  
  
"Fine, just fine." Nico called back, but that didn't stop Bianca from opening the door and peering in, a concerned look painted on her face. She asked if Nico was sure if he was okay, if he needed any type of medication. Of course he wasn't sure? He can't say that to Bianca however, she'd panic too much, so he smiled and pulled his hand from under the steaming water to gesture for Bianca to leave. He'd follow, maybe.   
  
When Nico's hand was removed from the sink, the black ink began dripping slowly off his nimble fingers again, despite his long attempts to wash it off. His eyes widened as he noticed this, a disgusted look washing over his face. Bianca eyed him oddly and Nico almost stammered out, "Do you see that?"  
  
He wasn't ready for anyone to know though, and if Bianca couldn't see it then so be it.   
  
He turned off the tap and dried his hands,  shoving them into his pockets and followed Bianca out of the room.  
  
As he was walking down the hallway, behind his older sister, Nico was staring at his pants. Black was seeping through the denim, spreading along his legs like an oil stain and he took his hands out again. They were absolutely soaked in this, and Nico started to panic. The stain on his pants continued to grow larger, despite him removing his hands and Bianca wasn't noticing a thing.  
  
When Bianca stopped talking, he finally heard it.  
  
The quiet, quiet whispers.  
  
The God awful whispers.  
  
"Bianca?" Nico mumbled out, blinking fast and staring at his hands. He stopped walking.  
  
Bianca hummed back,  _hmmm?_ and turned around. She looked at Nico curiously at first, opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, but Nico thrusted his hands into her face and nearly screamed:  
  
"How do you not see this? _"_

His arms were coated in this liquid now and staining his shirt and he was drowning so fast, "How do you not hear that, Bianca?"  
  
The older girls eyebrows rose and she grabbed Nico's hands, a squelch sounding from the liquid being squished and Bianca had to have heard that because Nico saw her flinch at it. How was she not seeing this? What about those whispers? She has to hear those.  
  
"I think you need to rest, Nico. "  
  
Bianca led him to his room and pulled him to her chest and started rubbing his back as they lay on her bed and yeah, maybe he fell asleep on his sister in the middle of the day, so what?  
  
~~~  
  
Mom got re-married.  
  
He was older than her with thick white hair and slightly crooked teeth to match. His eyes weren't friendly but his touch was soft and that's what made Nico uneasy.  
  
He never came into his room, never looked at him or his sister. However, there was this one weekend mom went on a girls weekend to the spa with her friends and Nico could hear his sisters screams loud and clear in the middle of the night. That's when it started. The blood curdling begs for him to stop. The torture. 

Nico had to listen to it for months on end, everytime their mom left. It started to happen more during the day when she was gone shopping, too. The nine year old didn't know what was happening to his sister, didn't know how to help. He took to locking himself in his room and trying not to cry. 

Just another reason for him not being able to sleep.  
  
When Bianca's screaming stopped, everything did for a while.  
  
Nico wasn't sure what was going on in the room beside his at 3 am, but he could still hear the door creak, though there was no more begging or sobbing. It was eerily quiet. That sent shivers all along Nico's nerves worse then anything else  
  
Three weeks later, Nico's door creaked open at 4 am and from his spot at the window sill, Nico stiffened. His blood ran cold and he turned to face his mom's husband.  
  
He wanted to spit out some snarky comment about being done with his sister,  but his eyes were so cold and wild that his jaw felt like it got welded shut.  
  
That night, Nico was forced to go down on his step dad, something he didn't even understand. His step dad had no remorse for tearing into his eight year old throat. Tears wouldn't stop running down Nico cheeks as he got his hair yanked on and threats whispered to him.  
  
His step dad left him around 5 am with a raw throat and white substence all over his face, not so different from the black that haunts him, blending with his tears. He left his room for the bathroom and didn't leave it until he was called for breakfast.


	5. chapter four

He was ten years old when Bianca killed herself.

Nico was the one who found her.

He remembers going into her room around 9 am to get her for breakfast and seeing her asleep at her desk. Well, he thought she was asleep at first. He remembers the tears stained onto her cold cheeks and the note under her hand. He remembers how his mother wouldn't let him read it and how his mother's husband looked upon the scene with a cold detachment. And he remembers the pain. That deep, deep, red hot pain that tore through his body when he finally understood that Bianca wasn't just sleeping. He didn't want to believe it. He couldn't.

He tried to grieve, but _they_ wouldn't let him.

Nico found himself talking to himself all the time after that. However, he wasn't talking to himself because something always replied. Always, always replied.

Any onlooker would assume he were talking to himself, though. Maybe he was. Maybe he was just going crazy.

There was this one voice that replied the most out of all of them and it always tried to take form as it spoke. Nico would say something, look up and listen to the reply as the shadows stretched toward him. Sometimes, the scratching against the veil would drown out the reply. Sometimes he could almost make out mutilated limbs and a screaming face. That was when he would squeeze his eyes shut and scream at them to go away.

Sometimes they replied in Bianca's voice and he's never hated anything so much in his life.


	6. five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> starting to forget where i was going with this thing

His mother got him a babysitter a week after Bianca died. The babysitter came in the form of dark brown eyes and messy hair and a smile that turned Nico fuzzy, although he doesn't want to know why. She was fourteen. Her name was.. Her name eluded Nico.

There wasn't ever really much for his babysitter to do, seeing as all Nico did was sit around and talk to the shadows, waiting for when they sound like Bianca. The babysitter would make him food, bouncing around everywhere and try to keep a conversation with him.

The third time she had to babysit, when Maria and her husband went out for dinner, was when Nico finally snapped at her.

There was a hand. It's always a hand, and it was reaching toward him like he was a lifeline. Like he was a goddamned God answering the prayers of some poor soul. And Nico couldn't look away, couldn't physically bring himself to drag his eyes away from this darker than dark limb begging for him. He doesn't even know if he want's to look away. So, he doesn't.

Reaching forward, Nico gripped this hand for the first time. He interlocked his fingers with this thing that he doesn't even understand and he heard his sister. He felt a wave of grief crash into him as Bianca's voice suddenly pounded through his veins. He almost couldn't stomach listening to her voice when he knew full well that she was gone.

Then his babysitter put her hand on his shoulder and she leaned over to ask him something. She looked like Bianca and Nico ripped himself out of her grip, not knowing he was ripping the shadows apart in anger with him and a scream of "I can't stand you!" tore from his throat.

_Did you hear that? did you hear it_

_He cant stand you. won't stand you_

_Do you know what that means? do you know_

_What does it mean? it means youre dead_

_youre dead_

Laughter echoed behind those words as they whispered back and forth to each other and Nico almost started feeling sick over hearing all these different voices. They spoke together, spoke in harmony and they sounded insane. He wish he didn't know where they came from. The laughter kept getting more loud.

Seeing those eyes again for what felt like forever felt like a stab to the gut but there they were and they weren't leaving when he blinked this time.

He was still holding onto the hand that he had gripped and it was cold and dark and it was solidifying under his touch. It's glowing white eyes would not waver from staring at him and Nico almost started crying under the intense gaze. 

Stumbling back, his babysitter gaped at the scene before her, in shock. She wanted to run, but she couldn't move.

Small, young, innocent looking Nico di Angelo was standing in front of a twisting, gaping hole in the middle of the room. It resembled a black hole but it was twisting counter clockwise and emitting the darkest substance ever seen. It seemed to keep getting darker and darker the deeper it twisted and _god, was it ever cold._ Mist seeped off these tendrils of smoke in waves with how cold it was and the temperature in the room immediately dropped.

It looked like a gate to hell had just been ripped open, and the screams of the damned echoed in the room, making the babysitter's ears want to bleed with how blood curdling they were. The laughter began to overcome the screaming and it was much more unsettling than the screams.

As this smokey substance poured out of this tear in the veil between worlds, it spread across the hardwood floor and slowly began to crawl up Nico, looking like it were devouring him.

Still, Nico gripped the hand to this creature now standing beside him. He gripped it for dear life as his energy drained and tried to ignore how it laughed just like him.


	7. six

His name was Percy Jackson and he was the first one to look at Nico.

 _Really_ look at Nico, you know?

He was twelve and hired to babysit Nico because he was a family friend's son and Maria di Angelo didn't know who else to trust _(because what happened to that Bianca look-a-like? No one knows.)_ Percy was probably young enough to need a babysitter himself, and that thought made Nico chuckle when he first met the kid. He let Percy "babysit" him anyway.

The kid bounced around the house all day, making food for him and Nico and flipping through tv channels. Nico couldn't keep up, but he sure as hell tried because something about how Percy Jackson avoided direct eye contact with Nico intrigued him.

Eventually, Percy sat down beside Nico with a plate of pizza for lunch and turned the tv onto some stupid Disney channel show. He kept his eyes glued there and flinched every time Nico made to move. 

 _He hates you,_ was whispered in Nico's ear.

_you're going to fall in love and he can't even look at you._

The whispers echoed throughout the entire house and he steeled himself against the onslaught to come now that they started. They do that now. They go quiet for a long time. Watching, waiting. Waiting. Then, they see something they like, something they need to get into Nico's fucking head about and they do it. Sometimes they stay for day's, whispering to him about everything and nothing and he can't shake them. They're always there. They're always there.

He can see them everywhere now.

They ripped apart the veil between their worlds and they're stuck to him because he can fucking  _see_ them.

 _He_  leaned over Nico's shoulder, with his glowing eyes and his twisting, cold darkness and he whispered to him, " _He can see us_."


	8. seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: RAPE.  
> IM SORRY

Nico never once had violent thoughts.

He liked to think he raised mainly his mothers son - she was a very peaceful person.

That changed when he was eleven.

It didn't help that dark thoughts began to seep into his head when _they_ showed up. When _he_ showed up. But then his mother was still married to this guy who was the reason Bianca killed herself and Nico was finally grown up enough to understand that no means no. He understood what sexual assault is. What molestation is. He was ten when he first understood these things and how wrong they were. How come his step-father didn't?

Some people were born sick.

Nico misses his dad.

He was eleven when his step-father finally decided molestation wasn't fun anymore.

He was eleven when he was raped for the first time.

His floor boards creaked and creaked and creaked. His heart pounded and pounded and stopped.

He held his breath as he heard his door lock. His clock flashed out 2 am. He wasn't really asleep previously, but he wasn't really awake, either. However, once he heard the creaking, his eyes flung open. They stung with how long he went without blinking.

He felt nails dig deep into his skin and his low, hoarse voice rasp out, "Don't say a fucking word."

Nico learnt how to keep his screams and whimpers to himself a long time ago.

That wasn't ever an issue.

The issue was the glowing white eyes standing out against the dark of his room as they watched him bite his pillow to muffle his screams. The issue was the anger that flooded into those otherworldly eyes as Nico's eyes began to leak tears from the sting of his step-father's obscene thrusting.

The issue was the mirror on the other side of the room, which no longer showed Nico's reflection, shattering silently as _he_ watched Nico being brutally raped by his step-father and not being able to do a single thing.

The issue was the anger.

There was so much anger.


	9. eight

Percy didn't know that he was raped. He was confused when Nico started to flinch away from his touch.

"Nico? You don't seem okay" he had said, "Tell me what's up."

Nico didn't know how to talk about it.

He remembers the first day Percy ever stepped into the house after he was raped, _He_ got right up in Percy's face. Nico watched as Percy flinched and averted his eyes. He watched the fear flash across those sea green iris's. He watched every muscle tense up in Percy's body.

Nico remembers thinking, "I could introduce him. If I knew his name."

Nico was eleven. And Nico wasn't scared of this thing that tore through the veil of his world and the next. And Nico had no idea why Percy was the only other person who could see this thing besides him.

Later that night, _he_ left and Percy and Nico were able to hang out properly, without this tension lurking over them.

Maria di Angelo called Nico at 11:00 at night telling him that his step-father was dead.


	10. nine.

"Why isn't your mom around much anymore?"

It's been three weeks since the death.

"Doesn't like the memories."

Percy scrunched up his nose and glanced around the empty house, "She could move you and her to a new place, rather than just never being around. Doesn't seem like what a mom would do."

Nico glanced up, an eyebrow raised and a shadow passed behind Percy. His gaze averted so quickly, Percy turned around, too but _he_ was already gone.

Until _he_ was right in front of Percy's face.

Even from across the table, Nico could hear Percy's breath quicken and he closed his eyes. He let himself get lost in the shadows. He felt something grip his consciousness, his very soul and pull. He left his body with a quick gasp and he's surprised Percy didn't turn around to see what happened. Nico's body slumped against the counter, momentarily empty. When Nico blinked next, he was face to face with Percy and he was cold. So, so cold.

Pure fear was in Percy's eyes, and Nico could see him trembling. The slightest of shake, the shift in the shirt, the vibration in his hair.

The voice that came from his mouth was an echo, heard from a different realm, and it burned as it reached him, "Nico?"

Percy glanced over his shoulder suddenly, and there was a trail left behind of Percy, imprints of him, making it so Nico could obverse every expression on his face. The fear of the thing standing in front of him. The confusion when Nico said nothing. The terror when he didn't even hear his soft breathing. The desperation, panic, longing, anger.

"What the fucking hell is going on?" Percy's voice rose, just in the slightest and he snapped back to what was in front of him.

Those green eyes narrowed, glazing over with anger. He was still confused, beyond confused, but he was so angry, too, "What the fuck are you?"

Nico wanted to reply, but _he_ beat him to it. The voice that rang through the house, and vibrated through Nico's soul, was deep and raspy and haunting.

"I am an entity with no name."

The sudden cold that overcame Nico's soul was so harsh that it pulled him back into his own body. He awoke, sputtering out a gasp as his body shot up right across the table, and fell off his chair from the force of it all. The pain that followed whatever he had done had left him in a full body ache for four days after.

Percy never seemed the same after that.


	11. ten

Percy grew into himself suddenly after he turned 14.

Showed up to Nico's to babysit again ( _but he's 12 now so why does his mom keep hiring a babysitter?_ ) and he was taller, sharper. His jawline was more firm and he didn't seem as awkward in his body anymore. He had a little bit of facial hair growing in, and his eyes reflected newfound maturity, although Percy will forever be a kid at heart. His smile was no longer the crooked, goofy smile but an alluring smirk as he waved Nico's mother out the door. Puberty hit him hard and Nico knows it isn't done with him yet.

His voice dropped, too, and it sent chills down Nico's spine when he said his name.

That was the moment that Nico realized he was starting to love Percy in more of just a role model way.

Percy threw his arm around Nico's shoulders and steered him to the couch, "It took me a while to think over how I'm going to word what I'm about to tell you," he said as they sat down, "So I decided just to show you."

He raised his hand, and Nico raised an eyebrow, confused, until he heard rushing water from the kitchen tap. 

"You aren't the only one that's special." Percy smirked as the water pressure broke the tap off the sink and water came spewing out, heading straight for Percy in a controlled stream. It collected in his outstretched hand, a writhing ball of water. Percy turned his hand face down and the water slowly made a makeshift glove around his hand, weaving in between his fingers and flattening against his skin.

"Hydro-kinetic is the technical term. But I'm pushing my power more every day. I don't think it quite falls under hydro-kinetic. Not anymore, at least."

Eyes wide, Nico looked away from Percy manipulating the water to his eyes and he noticed how tired Percy really was, "That's how you could see him, then? Because you're special."

Shrugging, Percy answered, "I guess so."

"I don't know what he is. He's terrifying,"

It went silent for a moment, as Percy's eyebrows furrowed. He was thinking hard about something. Eventually, he sighed, "I don't know either."


	12. eleven

It's been six months and Nico is still trying not to use his.. abilities? because they still scare him but Percy insists that they try and train together.

"You're the only other person I know who's different like this" he would say.

"Please, Nico. It would be so cool, can you imagine?" he would beg.

Nico always ignored him when he would ask again and again. He just couldn't do it. Percy is the one person he would do anything for, and he would push himself to train but he just can't. He always manages to avert his gaze from the older boy to avoid caving in.

And then his mom got sick.

Percy started coming around less and less as the months flew by because his mom was bedridden. Nico didn't need a babysitter all of a sudden.

The two years following his mom getting sick was a blur.

Nico's worst nightmare's had come true. He was losing the last person he had hoped to lose.

Every day was a blur of medication's and doctor's and the beeping of machines. Her voice was fading, as was Nico's spirit.

His mom didn't live to see his 14th birthday.

~~~

There was a knock on the door and it echoed throughout the entire empty house. Nico's head pounded with every knock and he scrunched his eyes shut at the disturbance. Who the fuck is bothering him now?

They knocked again and he pushed his hands into his eyes, trying to ignore it, trying to ignore everything. His body ached and his head hurts and his chest felt like it was collapsing in on itself.

They knocked again and Nico wanted to bury himself into his bed and disappear forever.

_why won't you answer?_

Nico sat right up in bed, eyes shooting open. The burning bright of the pure white eyes right in front of him made his head ache even more than it already was.

_you know who it is._

"That's why I won't answer."

The entity that lives in Nico's shadow eyed him down intensely.

_i can feel that lie._

With anger coursing through his veins, Nico threw back his blanket and stood up. He lingered beside his bed for a second, wavering between taking the step to answering the door, and crawling back into bed to let his depression consume him.

The entity turned and slipped out of the room. Nico didn't even do anything to stop him, he just continued to stand there and stare at the door. He heard the front door creak open and he heard the person that was knocking stutter over his words.

"Can I just.. just sneak past...? I'm going to.. to sneak by.. here."

There was a creak of the door closing again, and shallow footsteps as this person entered the house. The echoing _thud, thud, thud_ hurt Nico's head even more the knocking. He turned and crawled back into bed, really hoping he would just wither away in his bed and die.

Nico would know that voice anywhere.

His bedroom door slowly inched open and Percy poked his head in, unsure about what he's doing, "I... I baked you a cake, Nico."

"Why?" his voice was gruff and muffled due to the fact that his face was buried into his pillow.

The door opened more and Percy stepped in a bit more, awkwardly standing at the end of Nico's bed, "It's your birthday."

Rolling over and pushing the blanket down a bit so he can peer over at Percy, Nico narrowed his eyes and spat out, "Who cares?"

Suddenly, all of the awkward that was weighing down on Percy's shoulders melted away. His expression softened and his posture relaxed. He put down the container he was holding onto Nico's desk and made his way to Nico's bed. Gingerly sitting on the side of it, Percy sighed and glanced at the younger boy bundled up, and then around his empty, cold room.

He looked back at Nico with soft adoration lighting up his eyes and replied, "I care."

The only thing Nico could think about while looking at Percy in that moment, was when the entity that haunts his shadow told him  _you're going to fall in love and he can't even look at you._

(he's the only one that see's me)


	13. twelve

Nico's issue is this - he still flinches away from everyone's touch.

Every finger tip that brushes his skin burns the way it did when it was his step father's fingertips. Every hand on his shoulder is a weight he can't shake off. Every time someone grabs his arm it aches to his bone and he's always scared a bruise will linger like it use too.

When he started to whither away in his bed, allowing his bone deep depression to consume him, Percy took it upon himself to take care of Nico. He would make him food, but Nico would only eat if Percy told him too and not on his own accord. His appetite had vanished, just like everything else within him. He wouldn't even move out of bed to shower unless Percy yanked the blankets off of him and had the shower running already.

After a month of this, Percy brought over pizza and chips and movies and declared he was staying the night.

"You don't have too." Nico's voice was hoarse from disuse.

Shrugging, Percy put down his bag full of stuff and turned on Nico's TV, "I should've done it earlier, to be honest. The guilt of not watching you overnight, too.. Do you even sleep these days?"

The room went dead silent, because Nico didn't know what to say. No, he doesn't sleep. He just lays in bed and stares at the ceiling until his eyes burn. He just lays there and listens to the shadow's whisper about him, belittle him, mock him, and yell at him. He always wishes he could tune them out, but they're too loud.

That night, Percy sat in bed beside him and chewed his chips to loud and laughed to loud at the movie he was watching and slurped his pop to loud.

Percy's loudness is one that doesn't make Nico's head hurt.

But when the time came, Percy shut everything down at 3 am and told Nico he should try and sleep, _please_.

He ended up crawling into bed with Nico and that made Nico's blood boil and skin crawl. When Percy laid his hand on his arm, the younger boy flinched away, feeling like his skin was shriveling up under Percy's touch.

He tried to reach over and run his finger's through Nico's tangled hair, but all Nico felt was the rough tugging of his step father. Tears stung the back of his eyes as he flinched away from Percy's touch again.

But he did sleep that night. He was lulled to sleep by Percy's gentle breathing and Nico was scared because he could get used to this.


	14. thirteen

_i see the way you look at him_

Nico had his back pressed against his door, his heart hurting as Percy went home and he was left with an empty house again. His legs gave out beneath him as this entity spoke this, and he slid to the floor in a pathetic, crumpled heap.

Shooting a glare at the thing, he retorted, "What do you know about that? You're just a _thing_." his voice twisted into something so cruel, he didn't even recognize himself.

_you still haven't put it together?_

The thing sat down in front of him, but he didn't really touch the floor, so was he really sitting?

 _the boy can see me because he_ knows _me, not because he's special._

"The fuck is that supposed to mean?"

As he stared at this thing sitting in front of him, it started to distort, the fabric of reality itself bending around it. Then, it started to laugh and it's laugh came from the depths of the void itself, echoing, chilling.

_his soul knows me, across all dimensions, across the world, in any life time. his soul is mine._


	15. fourteen

"I'm scared."

For once, Nico was alone.

Ever since he was a kid all he wanted was for the shadows to leave him alone.

But now? He is so alone. So very, very alone. And he hates it.

His shadow wasn't even around at the moment.

"I'm fucking terrified."

He spoke to the air, hoping something will hear. Something at all.

Both of Nico's parent's are dead. His sister is dead. His house is empty and the majority of everything inside it was shut down because he couldn't pay the bills. He didn't know how, and he wasn't even supposed to be living there. He should have gone into foster care a long time ago. But, he was too scared too. Nico tried to just drop off the face of the planet, hoping he'd be okay.

He wasn't okay.

When Percy stopped coming by to check on him, Nico realized just how very alone and very depressed he really was. The only thought that plagued his mind for a long time was that he just wanted it all to _stop_. Now, he has nothing he'd be leaving behind.

So, with a lump in his throat and an aching emptiness resonating in the pit of his soul, Nico emptied the entirety of his late mother's medicine cabinet into his stomach and prayed to God that it would be more than enough to kill him.

What he wasn't betting on was for Percy Jackson to _feel_ his death. He wasn't expecting Percy to be sitting with his girlfriend, halfway across the city and have all of the air in his lungs forced out of him. He wasn't expecting a fleeting image to pass through Percy's mind of Nico collapsing to the floor. He wasn't expecting Percy to feel a gaping hole in the middle of his chest, like he was suddenly missing part of himself.

Percy called an ambulance as he ran out of his girlfriends house and prayed to God that they'd make it there in time.


	16. fifteen

Nico prayed for what he thought were angels, but they ended up being ambulances.

The flashing red and blue as he came to consciousness was mistaken for heaven in his dreary mind. (or hell)

The world was muffled and voices floated in and out of his ears, snippets of panic and distorted yelling. There was a underlying beeping behind everything he couldn't make out and shadows of faces looming over him as he opened his heavy eyelids.

He heard, "Is he going to be okay?"

He hopes not.

He heard, "Where are the fucking parents?"

Long gone.

He heard, "Is he waking up?"

He wishes he wasn't.

As Percy ran up to the house, and saw the catastrophe outside of Nico's home, his heart dropped. There were two police cars, a firetruck, and an ambulance with it's doors wide open. The front door of the house was off it's hinges, and the paramedics were screaming at each other in the back of the ambulance. And that's when he saw the body on the gurney with a tube down it's throat and it's stomach being pumped. IV's were snaked into it's arm and the wrists were bound down to the metal frame to prevent possible struggling when they woke up.

Percy's rib cage cracked and his heart fell to the ground that was blurring past his quick feet. _Nico_.

One of the paramedic's noticed him coming forth among the mess and he yelled out, "You can't come near, kid!"

His eyes were wild and his hands were out but Percy didn't stop for anything. He leaped into the back of the ambulance and yelled back, "I'm all he has left!"

Another paramedic turned to face the sudden intruder and asked, "You know this kid?"

Fumbling to grab onto Nico's limp hand, he replied, "I was the one that called 911."

"How did you know?"

The sinking, hollow feeling that Percy felt just 20 minutes ago creeped it's way back into the pit of his stomach. His adam's apple bobbed against his throat as he swallowed hard.

"We... We were texting. He was telling me about - about how - " His voice cracked against the lie and he squeezed Nico's lifeless hand. Tears burned the back of his eyes, "Please. Tell me he'll be okay."

One of the paramedic's blinked at him slowly, "Yes. He will be. We'll be taking him to the hospital, for further recovery, however. What's his name?"

A silence fell over the ambulance. The beeping and ringing and engine humming weighed heavy on Percy as he hesitated.

Eventually, "Nico di Angelo."

The murmurs started with the Paramedics who were farthest away,"Di Angelo? Are you sure?"

"Isn't that the kid that...?"

"I thought he died when his father...?"

"di angelo?"

"Shit, seriously?"

The one who asked for the name turned away with a pitiful look in his eyes, "We'll have to contact CPS, since he has no one else."

And all Percy could think was, _but he has me._

_Wasn't that enough?_


End file.
